N. Cali News Story

[bps]

On Monday night, KXTV - Ch 10 aired another story on Extreme Sports, and of course, BASE was included. You can view it on real video at the following address:

www.kxtv10.com

Click on Extreme Sports and then Extreme Sports Part 2 once the next page comes up.

The "experts" think they know the reason why a person would huck themselves off a bridge. Ha! As usual...only those who actually do will ever know...

Bryan

[Keith]

The more that I BASE jump the more I don't care for the media. Their has only been just a few pieces on us that have been any good and those were done by College students, not mainstream media organizations. College students are usually the only ones that tell the truth and don't end out f***ing you in the end.

[guest]

Yes, it time for the sequel.

And the best part is everyone involved in this classic is still alive, (except for Edna Jacobson, okay she's not dead, just divorced and moved to Oregon).

For those who haven't seen it, this movie is the final exam for two UCLA student film makers. One of them, John Starr, went on to become a skydiver and BASE jumper himself.

The filmed is the last of ten films shown. The other nine films are a silly hodgepodge of images and sounds and "Stealing Altitude" steals the show.

At the get together later at a fashionable West Hollywood home the BASE jumpers are the life of the party. And it's here Keith Jones, who opens the film by jumping from a Century City building, utters the line of the night. He's standing in front of a table filled with $30 a pound horsd’oeuvres and he says, "Hey, you guys got any Cheese Whiz?"

Nick
BR

[BASE359]

In case some of you are not familiar with the film Stealing Altitude, here is John's web site that tells all about it.

http://home.earthlink.net/~johnstarr1/Stealing_Altitude.htm

BASE359

[guest]

>f***ing you in the end.

Something you would know about, Keith. . .

[guest]

"The BASE jumpers featured in this film dedicate their participation to the memory of ##### Pedley, BASE 263"

- Last line of Credits
"Stealing Altitude"

Stealing Altitude's premier at USC left the audience cheering and every BASE jumper in the house crying.

Nick
BR

[imported_Tom Aiello]

Thanks for the address Bryan.

What about folks who huck themselves off antennas?

--Tom Aiello

[guest]

So the tiny "classic" rears its grainy head once more...

How ya been, Nick?

Nick writes:

>>One of them, John Starr, went on to become a skydiver and BASE jumper himself.<<

Not necessarily in that order, I'm somewhat proud to say. No more BASE jumping for me, but I still fall out of an odd plane now and then. Usually in connection with a desert fly-in hosted by a bandit flying club I leached onto.

By the way, Nick, it's USC, not UCLA.

Thanks to Roger's tireless marketing efforts, the film has been enjoying quite an afterlife. It is currently bundled with a bunch of adventure sports films to be shown on a ski network in northern US and Canadian ski lodges. Hmmm...

Don't know if BBC Bristol is still showing it on 10x10.

If anybody wants a copy of the film, e-mail me and I'll forward info. Or just pirate a copy from Nick.

Blue Skies,

- John Starr
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnstarr1/Stealing_Altitude.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~johnstarr1/Fabulous_Rocketeers.htm

[bps]

"What about folks who huck themselves off antennas?"

Especially ultra-low underhung ones with the "human-impaler" on the side of them!

http://www.baselogic.com/forum/images/wink.gif

Bryan

[guest]

Sorry John, I know it's USC, but just imagine all the beer I've drunk since then . . . http://www.baselogic.com/forum/images/happy.gif

I love to help spread S/A around however I don't have the means to copy the tapes.

If someone will volunteer to make the copies, I'll send them the video, but if I don't get it back it's pistols at ten paces at next year's Bridge Day!

Nick
BR

[guest]

>>I love to help spread S/A around...<<

Thanks, Nick. Any way we can...

For those who want to support USC, the preferred method is to call USC student film archives and order a copy of Stealing Altitude (and ask for the skydive classic "Proof" while you're at it). $35 a whack, but good quality, and that price includes postage.

Their number in Los Angeles is (213) 740-1567.

Their mailing address is:

USC Moving Image archive
School of Cinema-Television
University Park
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211
ATTN: Valarie Schwan

- John

[guest]

In many regards your film was THEE most fair treatment we have ever gotten, mostly because of it's minimalist approach to the film. Many of the BASEgods who _SAY_ the media should be shunned,then go on to the "Hi Mom"/face on tv ego-stroke we see used to slam us as a bunch of deathwish types. I met you and your partner at a 'A-16' store during a 'Access fund' fundrising event in west los angeles hosted by a high-profile climber who has earned his BASE#(name withheld). As I spoke to this host discussing BASE you both pulled me aside saying that you guys were going to produce a student film and could I take you around to sites and help facilitate or at least refer you to others who would. In short I had to decline as even if I felt better about you two then the professional vultures at the networks,I still felt it's is too much of a risk! I did tell you two I'd be happy to give ya "Deep background" info from a BASE'rs viewpoint,but that was all! Maybe you recall this encounter,maybe not. You of course had no problem finding BASE jumpers who would oblige. Sure it is tempting to want to be immortalized in this manner,but the point is this: THERE IS_NO GUARANTY_ !!!!!!!!

[guest]

I remember the meeting well. I recall a few faces from that night, but not sure about the names -- save for one guy who had a rather peculiar name that has never left me.

I also recall doing a bit of "recon" work that night with a couple of jumpers. No jumps, just sniffing out sites in downtown LA and some west side stuff.

Your media shyness is rare and honorable. Sometimes I think that the catch phrase "just say no" should apply to anybody every faced with the temptation of a media appearance.

I can't believe what I'm seeing these days with people airing their personal laundry on cheezy talk shows, etc.

To me parachuting is a somewhat private activity not too unlike sex; I'm not into broadcasting that aspect of my life, I'm just into enjoying it.

- John

[guest]

<center><font size="1" color="#ff0000">LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-99 AT 01:09&nbsp;PM (EST)</font></center>

In my encounters with the media over the years, I've been involved with one event (so far) that went badly. In return for roof access we hooked up with a radio DJ (who said he just wanted to watch) while unbeknown to us, he stationed photographers a block away in every direction. Later he hawked the footage all over town and it made for a good lesson and a story in the JOURNAL called "Deal with the Devil."

When we first met John Starr it is through friends rather than a media event so they came off as a couple guys with a camera (live in LA and you trip over film makers) rather than Connie "we're gonna rip you a new one" Chung from CBS.

It just felt right.

Everyone did their part in the film without seeing the final cut so we are squirming in our seats when the house lights dim. I may have been taken in with the setting, the legitimization of it all, but at the end I rose uncontrollably to my feet along with everyone else clapping and cheering like a freaking whuffo. This, I thought, is good . . .

Could it have gone badly? Sure, in fact, if John had done a number on BASE jumping the film may have garnered more exposure supporting the media view of tax payer rescues and "oh my God, those idiots could land on my head!"

However, what it is, is the story of an average Joe (a wife, three kids and a mortgage), who BASE jumps in order to shave off some of life's sharper edges.

Except for the BASE jumpers in attendance the audience is hard core academia. They actually snicker, "what morons," as the opening shows Keith Jones launching from a building in Century City. I start hunkering down in my seat lest they begin throwing milk duds.

John brought to the film something most BASE coverage omits. The personal angle. When you see a rescued or injured BASE jumper on TV the average whuffo can't sympathize because he doesn’t understand BASE jumping and because he knows nothing of the person. It’s impossible for them to care after those two strikes.

What happens in the film is the audience begins to feel for "Average Joe." They are pulling for him to make a good jump and return safely home to his wife, the three kids and the mortgage. It's corny, but it works. All of sudden BASE jumping isn't the issue. People are the issue, and every whuffo who saw Stealing Altitude that night came away with a positive impression. Time will only make this film better.

A good point here is the tug-of-war between BASE jumping and the media will continue but we should endeavor to personalize the image we project. I covered a Bowling Championship once as a photojournalist (what I did in the military) and my editor said, "Bowling is boring, find out something about the bowlers."

Instead of headlines that scream "Man Parachutes From Millennium Ball As It Drops in Times Square!" we should be reading "Man, Who is a Very Nice person, is Good to his Mother, Takes in Strays, and Volunteers Down at the Mission, Parachutes From Millennium Ball As It Drops in Times Square!"

Spin, spin, spin. Well, you get the idea. The media is a good thing if you can manage it, rather than have it manage you.

Nick
BR

[guest]

Your words on humanizing jumpers reminded me of the following event.

While speaking to a beginning film production class at USC, Roger and I took a tough question from a notoriously safety-minded film instructor who seemed offended by our film. He inferred that we were selfish for allegedly putting our artistic aspirations ahead of USC’s possible legal culpability in the event a jumper were killed on our film.

Roger’s response has always stayed with me. I don’t quite recall his words in verbatim, but he inferred that it was the instructor who was being cold & selfish for viewing our film's jumpers as mere "liabilities", rather than seeing them as Roger and I came to know them; people worth caring about on a personal level.

I think Roger’s response was something to this effect:

"We were very concerned, but not just to the extent that we viewed these guys as mere "liabilities". We cared about them as people. These guys are our friends."

Right after that somebody asked if we were still in touch with "them". I was proud to say "yes."

Most media personalities could care less how many heads they need to prop their chairs. As a subject, you’re only important to them to the extent you help their piece look good, earn high ratings and forward their career. That’s about it. The Connie Chung piece about our buddy CH was a classic example of the kind of ruthless back-stabbing modern television is built upon.

But don’t get me started on Bowling…

- John

"One of these days they’ll invent a sport where all you do is sit down and drink beer. But then they’ll just have to call it Bowling."

- unidentified comedian

[guest]

John Starr sez . . .

"a notoriously safety-minded film instructor who seemed offended by our film. He inferred that we were selfish for allegedly putting our artistic aspirations ahead of USC’s possible legal culpability in the event a jumper were killed on our film".

John,

This is the reason why when countries are invaded the first people stood up against the wall are the college professors . . .

Nick_BR

[guest]

Since I'm a college professor, I'm really hoping that we don't get invaded anytime soon.http://www.baselogic.com/forum/images/happy.gif